It's all my fault
by basketballchick13
Summary: Ella got shot.Max is falling to pieces.can Fang heal her?OR is it beyond what he can do?Iggy and Nudge get seperated from everyone in a blizzard,slight Niggy!Ella being on the verge of dying leaves the flock members in a mess. Will they be torn apart?
1. Chapter 1

Ella was practically dead. _And it was all my fault._ I'd fallen asleep during my watch. So when this guy with a knife snuck into our hotel room, (technically it was rooms, the boys room, the girls room and mom and Ella's room)I had been passed out on the couch. Luckily mom had been going to the bathroom when he snuck in through her window. But unfortunately for Ella, the man had found her first and, well, shot her. Of course within seconds I was awake and in full fighting mode. But I had been to late. Although Nudge had called the police and Angel controlled his mind and made him stay here and drop the gun.

We had rushed Ella to a hospital. As soon as we got there, they took her into the ER and then straight to the OR within ten minutes. I never sat down once.

"Is she going to be okay?" I asked one of the doctors'.

He looked at me and I knew the answer before he even said anything.

That's when I ran into the hospital parking lot and took off flying, I heard Fang almost silently taking off behind me. So then I used my useful little power and took off even faster, probably 220 or so. I just wanted to be alone at the moment, well, I at least didn't want anyone to see me cry.

I landed when I reached the Rockies. We were in Denver at the moment so the Rockies were like next door, figuratively speaking. It was probably 20 outside at the moment, so it was somewhat cold, but I'd seen colder, especially living in the Rockies for over four years. But that's not what was sending chills down my spine. The fact that Ella didn't have hardly a chance of living right now was just horrible. And the fact that it was mostly my fault, made it even worse.

I leaned against a great big pine tree. There were hundreds of them around here. And I heard someone coming. Okay seriously? How can I get followed this easily? I just wanted a break. I was tired all the time, I didn't want to have to fight at least once a day, or keep moving from place to place, it just sucked sometimes.

Whoever it was, was getting closer. I turned around to punch the creepy stalker. It turned out that the creepy stalker was Fang. He grabbed my wrist and smirked like he'd just won a fight or something. Then he took a look at my face and shook his head.

"What are you doing here?" I snapped.

"Seeing if you're okay," he replied looking at me intently, making me feel a little uncomfortable.

"I'm fine, why can't you just leave me alone?" I said.

I really just wanted to be alone, it wasn't any offense to him, but I needed to clear my head, maybe jump off a cliff with my wings closed, you know.

Without thinking about what I was doing I shoved him-hard. Then he shoved me back-harder. Usually it wouldn't have surprised me. Fang and I got into these fights all the time. But this one seemed to be a little different.

I started running so I could take off flying again. But instead of just following me again, Fang grabbed my arm and yanked me back towards him. I glared at him and snatched my arm back. He glared back. This was going to get bad, I could just tell.

"I know what you're thinking Max." He said. "I'm not stupid."

"Why do you even care? It's not like it's going to affect you anyways." I challenged. "All you care about is yourself and your stupid blog."

He raised his eyebrows. "My stupid blog helped you girls out in Germany. Don't forget that. If it weren't for my stupid blog, you guys might still be in there. And all you care about is being the leader and telling everyone what to do."

So not true. Well, maybe it was number four or five on my list. After flock, then family, ten saving the world. But really, it wasn't that important to me.

"Take that back!" I demanded.

"Nope." He denied so I threw my foot up to kick him. But him being all quick reflexes and all, he caught it and flipped me so that I landed hard on my stomach with an 'oomph'. "Not until you take what you said back."

"How can I? If I don't know it's true?" I asked.

He sighed. Jeez, he had to be really offended plus mad if he was sighing like that. He bent down onto his knees. I rolled over and started to sit up but Fang just pushed me back down. What was up with him today? I started to sit up again, but this time he pinned my shoulders down.

"You know," I said. "You're really trudging on dangerous waters here."

"I'll take my chances." He said.

"So, while you've got me here, why don't you spill?" I asked.

"I do care. Max, I wouldn't still be here if I didn't care. I would spend endless hours on watch, so that you could sleep, listening to Nudge go on and on about things and I wouldn't hold Angel after she has a bad dream almost every other day."

He didn't say anything for awhile, just let that all soak in. Angel had bad dreams?

"And most of all, I wouldn't listen to you all the time, give you advice, back you up on things, and be there when you need me."

The boy actually might have had a point. But then what he said about being on watch reminded me of Ella. I inhaled sharply. Fang let go and pulled me up.

"Go back and check on the flock." I said. "I just need some time alone."

"You sure?" He asked.

I nodded. The flock was probably wondering where we were, Fang should go back and tell them.

He gave me an unsure look, but gave me the slightest nod. He disappeared into the shadows. Good, now I could break down into tears without having the flock watch me. That was so embarrassing on the beach after we left Anne's house. But when Fang had been there to comfort me, I had felt so much better. _Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if Fang was here…_

My mind went back to Ella. What if I was missing the last few moments of her life? I wasn't such a good sister, was I? I felt tears forming in my eyes. Come on, don't cry, I told myself. But it was too late, I was already starting up, and nothing could stop me now. Well, an Eraser popping up might, but otherwise nothing really.

I slid down, my back against the tree. I put my elbows on my knees and put my head in my hands. One tear fell down my cheek, then another, and another. I was breathing heavily now, trying not to start sobbing my guts out. I hate stupid girly emotions, jeez. Well, I still have them, even though I'm me.

"You still sure about that?" Someone asked.

I looked up at Fang staring down at me, his face a little bit worried.

I couldn't find a snappy comeback like he'd been expecting. That's when his face became even more concerned. He bent down by me and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Are you ready to go back with me?" He asked.

I shook my head when I started to break down into huge sobs. I know, me actually crying. Amazing right? Well, I get to have feelings too, okay? Not that I express them very often, but I still have the right to though.

I expected Fang to say something like 'well, toughen up and do it anyways' but he didn't. Instead he pulled me up onto my knees and pressed me against his chest, my head on his shoulder.

"I'm here Max, I'm here." He chanted.

It didn't fix the whole thing, but it sure did make me feel better, know my, uh, best friend was there for me.


	2. Chapter 2

What if she dies?" I asked Fang, probably not sounding like English through my sobs.

Well, he understood me anyways 'cause he answered. "Things happen, Max. Not even you, the undefeated Maximum Ride can stop these things from happening."

He was trying to make a joke, but failing miserably at it. "That doesn't make me feel any better."

Fang was silent, he just swayed back and forth a little bit. I tried to pull back, but Fang instead he held me even tighter. This was just like the beach. Although, not as embarrassing , not in front of everyone, and this time I actually had a god reason to be crying. Even though I did have a reason last time, my sister was freaking dying and it was probably all my fault.

"I'm sorry about this whole thing" He said "I knew you were exhausted, but you insisted on doing first watch. I should've made you go to sleep."

"It's not your fault, nobody can _force_ me to do anything." I said.

"Yeah, but I seem to have a pretty good influence on your decisions." I could practically hear him smirking.

"Oh, and what's that supposed to mean?" I challenged.

"You know what I mean." He said. "You just won't admit it."

"I'm not admitting it because there's nothing to admit too." I argued.

"Really Max?" He said looking deep into my eyes.

That's when he kissed me

I was shocked at first. Then I started panicking. We couldn't do this, especially now.

I broke away from the kiss. I slipped away from his arms and took off running and flew away into the night. I didn't hear Fang following me…yet.

What was going through his mind right now. No, what was going through my mind at the moment. We just couldn't do this. Our lives were still complicated. The school might still be after us, no they were after us. And the whole saving the world thing took up a LOT of time. Oh yeah. There was also trying to find the rest of the flocks parents. Cross Iggy and I out. We'd both found ours. Iggy's though had turned out to be a bunch of jerks that only wanted the money that Iggy would bring him from his wings. And mine. Mom was absolutely great especially her chocolate chip cookies. Even Fang smiled when he had one, that's a rare sight. Well, it used to be, it's more and more daily than monthly now. I didn't agree with her agreeing with Jeb all the time. And my *dad* yeah right. He betrayed me and the flock. No, it wasn't enough to be a white coat he also had to bring us home have us trust him and love him. He played with our emotions and I wasn't going to ever let that happen to my flock again.

Anyways, life was just too complicated. And we just recently got reunited with eachother about three weeks ago. What if that happened again, if Fang and I were to become a couple and then split up again. I just couldn't let that happen again.

But, on the other hand, it was Fang. He was my silent leader. He always gave me advice, helped me out with denying Nudge and Angel (except for when they do the Bambi eyes, he's a sap when it comes to that, well I guess we both are), backed me up during fights with Erasers, always made me feel better without even saying a word just by being there. And most of all he had always been there for me, he's my best friend. I loved him so much. I trusted him more than anyone, even Angel. And he'd die for me at a moments notice, and visa versa.

But what was holding me back? I mean, we could find time to be together. I don't know what, but something was holding me back. Did I like someone else? Nope, who else was there to like, I mean come one. Was I afraid of a relationship? Not so much, it's the part of breaking up the relationship that would be hard to do. The flock didn't deserve to be torn apart again.

I flew back into the hospital parking lot. According to the clock I saw inside the building, it was one am. I'd been gone for about a half hour. I stepped inside.

"Can I help you miss?" It was the lady at the front desk.

"I'm looking for Ella Martinez." I told her and her smile disappeared.

"Are you her friend?" She asked. "Because only family is aloud."

I shook my head no. "I'm her sister." I said.

"You don't look Hispanic." She said.

"She's my half sister, does that still count?" I snapped, giving her a slight glare which seemed to faze her.

"Yes, I'm sorry. It's just some people say that they're sister, but they're only like sisters." She explained.

"I really don't care right now. Can you please just tell me what room she's in?"

"She's in room 37 on the fourth floor."

I heard Fang behind me.

"And this is Nick. He's Ella's full brother and also my half brother. He's going with me, do you have a problem with that?" I dared her.

"N…no." She stuttered.

I looked at Fang who was pretty mad. He didn't look that mad at me, more like himself. Yeah, he could pass as Ella's brother. I mean they weren't like twins, but it was believable, which was the only important thing.

"Come on Nick." I said in my fake, sweet innocent voice. "Let's go see our sister."

"Okay" He agreed, following me to the elevator.

I waited until we were inside the elevator and the doors were closed to talk to him.

"What was that?" I asked him.

"What was what?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." I said.

"You're the one that flew off, I don't have to talk about it." I said.

"There's nothing to talk about." I argued.

"Yes there is, you just never admit it Max."

God, I hated it when he was right, it was just plain annoying..

"Even if there is, and I am not saying there is, there's no point anyways."

"What are you afraid of Max?" He asked

The elevator doors opened. It was the fourth floor, so I started to walk. Fang followed me. Just out of the elevator doors he grabbed my arm and pulled me to the corner, by a plant.

"I'm not afraid of anything." I lied trying to brush past him, but he held onto my arm and grabbed my other one to hold me in place.

"Max, it's no use lying." He said. "I know you too well."

_Sorry to interrupt your little love fest Max, but Iggy and Nudge are missing._

It was Angel and I was freaking out.

What? Why? What happened?

_Well from what I heard in Nudge's mind, she was upset because Iggy was holding Ella's hand. She told us that she was going to the bathroom and she never came back. Then Iggy went to go look for her and he never returned._

Oh no. I'd known for awhile that Nudge kinda had a crush on Iggy. Great, just what I needed was more drama. I looked at Fang who was gripping my arms even tighter, yup he knew. Angel must have been telling him too.

"Who's going, you or me?" He asked.

"I don't know, your call."

"I think we should let Iggy take care of Nudge."

He expected me to argue. To say that Iggy cant handle things and Nudge is just a little girl. But that wasn't true. Nudge wasn't a little girl anymore. She was almost twelve, almost a teenager. And Iggy was just as old as us and was always the one who calmed Nudge down all the time.

"Yeah." I agreed.

He shrugged, his version of complete astonishment.

"Yeah, you need to be with Ella right now and I'll watch angel and Gazzy." He offered

I nodded and looked at his hands still on my arms. He noticed and go.

"Let's go." He said, but I had a feeling that this conversation was not over.

It was just beginning.


	3. Chapter 3

Nudge POV 

I admit it, I had a crush on Iggy. I don't know why, I just did and it was really annoying at times. Especially when Angel got into my head for endless hours at night and tried to convince you that you should tell him that you like him.

But even though I hated that I liked him, it still hurt when he was making googly eyes at Ella all the time. And when he was holding her hand at the hospital, it reminded me of all the movies. They would always admit their love for each other as soon as the patient woke up.

"You're so pathetic." I muttered to myself.

"You're not that bad." Someone said behind me.

I jumped slightly, getting ready to fight whoever it was. I totally lost balance when I saw it was Iggy. The top of the building that I was standing on felt a little wobbly. Iggy reached out to grab me and pull me up right.

"Thanks." I muttered, blood rushing to my cheeks.

"No problem." He said, letting go.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Angel told me, um well, everything." He admitted. "I just wanted to talk to you."

"About…?" I asked.

"Why didn't you just tell me that you had a, uh, crush on me?" He questioned.

"First of all, I thought you would laugh at me. Second, it's really hard to just tell someone tht. And third, you and Ella have a little something." I explained.

He looked straight at me. I still don't know how he did that, looked straight at you when he was talking, or slapped high fives perfectly. I took a step back at me.

"The first thing, I might have laughed at that a couple years ago, yeah. And there's nothing going on between Ella and I."He said, lying straight through his teeth.

"Liar." I accused. "You always turn red every time we come and visit and it's your turn to hug her."

He rolled his sightless eyes. He got that irritated look, like when I talked way too much. But this was different, I didn't know what though. It was like he was annoyed with me, not with my talking like he usually was.

"Okay, so what? You still should've told me. We always tell each other everything." He argued.

"Since when?" I challenged.

"Since Angel got kidnapped." He was right.

I had told him everything that night after they blew up the house up in the Rockies, not so far from here. Well, not absolutely everything like that I had wanted an iPod for Christmas. But I had told him everything that was going through my head at that time. Like I was afraid that Angel might already be dead and that I didn't want to die.

Now, it wasn't my death that I was afraid of, it was any one of the flocks death. Like the two times that Fang had gotten his butt whipped by Ari. Those experiences were horrible. And the day that Angel got kidnapped was probably the worst day of my life…so far. Oh yeah, there was those times when Max just fell out of the sky screaming bloody murder. I knew it was bad when one of our flock members screamed. But Max? That never happened, so you knew that it had to be gut wrenching.

"So what do you want me to say, Iggy?" I asked. I couldn't think of anything else to say.

"I don't know." He admitted. "Let's just get it over with, I mean when else are we going to be able to have this conversation without Angel reading our minds?" He added.

"You start." I demanded.

"Right," he started. "Well, what I like about you is that you always have a positive look out on things." He scratched his neck, thinking of more things to say. "You always make people feel better and you're awesome at hacking into computers."

"And what don't you like about me?" I asked.

He hesitated for a minute before answering. "You just got to talk a little less." He said, trying to not be offensive.

"Do I really talk that much?" I asked

"Uh, yeah." He admitted.

"Oh." I said.

"At least you do Fang's talking for him, that's got to count for something." He said trying to cheer me up. Yeah, Fang wasn't much of a talker, especially when it came to emotional things. Max and him just communicated by glances and hand signals and things like that.

"Yup." I said. "Now it's my turn."

"Okay, knock yourself out." He encouraged, or tried at least.

"Your bombs save us a lot. And you're always the sarcastic one, and can make a joke out of pretty much any situation. Oh, and your cooking is pretty good."

"Thanks." He muttered.'

"So…?"

"I swear, I had absolutely no idea that you liked me. If I would've known, I wouldn't have liked Ella."

"What difference does it make if I like you or not?" I challenged turning my back to him.

"Well it's a big difference. I didn't really have a crush on you, but I still have a few feelings for you that are different than those I have for Angel and Max." He explained, turning me around.

"We should get going back." I suggested, my cheeks really hot at the moment. "Max will kill us if we're not back soon enough."

"Uh-oh." He said.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"There might be a problem with getting back." He said. "It's snowing."

That was just an understatement. It was pounding snow, if that's even possible. I hadn't noticed it until Iggy told me. I was just too distracted.

I groaned. I had absolutely no idea how to get back. I had just went to a random building, and it had to be at least ten miles away.

"I think Max would want us to find shelter." Iggy said.

What about Ella? I thought to myself. Max needed us right now and I didn't want to be away if Ella didn't have that much time left. And Iggy didn't deserve to miss Ella's last moments.

"Let's go find some shelter," suggested Iggy.


	4. Chapter 4

Over 160 hits and I started it on like the 20th. I've gotten 8 reviews. Can you guys please review, please. And tell me what you guys want in the stories. Oh yeah, please give me some suggestions on what should happen between Iggy and Nudge during the blizzard, cause I'm having a little bit of trouble with that part. Anyways, thanks to those of you who have been reading and reviewing. Keep it up!

Peace Out,

Basketball chick

* * *

I looked outside. It was a whiteout blizzard. There was no way they could find their way back here, unless they were only like five blocks. But, knowing Nudge she probably flew off like two miles away. So that was almost hopeless at this point. They knew how to survive. Once they'd gone sledding, about a year ago and they'd built a shelter because it'd been a blizzard then too. So they would be able to survive, especially with buildings and people around.

I felt someone lay a hand on my shoulder, Fang. He looked down at me with his dark eyes. He gave me a one sided smile for reassurance.

Ella was better than she'd been before. She was still on a breathing thing though. The doctors had said she wasn't stable yet, but she wasn't as severe as she had been before she had first come here, about four hours ago. I was really starting to gain hope, but I knew not to build it too high, or I'd be shattered to pieces. Well, even worse than I would be if I didn't get my hopes up.

"They're going to be fine." He reassured.

"I know." I lied.

He gave me a look then just shrugged. He was just choosing his battles. And this one was a worthless.

"I'm hungry." I said, listening to my stomach growl. Hey, I have to have over 3000 calories a day at minimum. I hadn't eaten for like twelve hours and that had just been a granola bar and some trail mix along with a Sprite.

"The invincible and strong Maximum Ride is hungry?" He asked in a mocking tone.

"Oh like you aren't." I said.

"Yeah, but I went longer without admitting it."

I glared at him and punched him in the shoulder. He raised his eyebrows. He was challenging me, well I gladly accepted. It wasn't a real fight, it was just a playful one, you know, just for fun. Ella was in the OR again, because they had found a second bullet in her leg while taking a full body x-ray and so she probably wouldn't be back for awhile, mom was with her. Angel and Gazzy were doing something, and I wasn't sure what. But that was the least thing I was worried about at the moment. So I walked over and closed the door. Fang rolled the hospital bed so that it was against the wall the long ways.

"Do you want to just surrender now? Or just get you but kicked?" He asked crossing his arms across his chest.

"Look who's talking." I said. "And you're going to have to be a little bit scarier than that, you're really not doing a very good job"

He smirked at me. Oh my gosh, what was I doing? I was supposed to be the stronger one. Even though he was taller than me, and had a little more experience with pain than me. Instead of me having more of a chance of winning, it was more 50-50. We started off like we usually did, facing each other about three feet apart. Usually we did these to settle argument, way back when we lived in the E shaped house. Now we just argued verbally, and it was a lot less fun because you actually had to think of snappy comebacks, while fighting just came naturally to me.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Yeah, are you."

"oh, yeah."

We started for each other. Our goal was to knock the other person to the ground and keep them down there for ten seconds or more. So it was kind of like a wrestling match I guess. Yup it was like a wrestling match.

"One" we said together.

"Two."

"Three.

I lounged for him but he stepped back just in time, putting his foot out to trip me. _Really mature, Fang. _I thought. I stood up on my knees and wrapped my arms around his leg. If he was going to play little kid, then so was I. He tripped backwards, making me crack up. Almost making me miss my chance to pin him down, and that's almost. I pinned his shoulders down with my knees. Ha, this was way easier than I had thought.

I had him there for about two seconds when Fang took my arms and flipped me onto my back. Then he pinned my shoulders down.

"You didn't think I would let you win that easily, did you?" He whispered in my ear.

I sighed. I should've known it wasn't going to be this easy. Just as I was about to push him he rolled me over, onto my stomach. He took my hands and held them down behind my back. I kicked him in the shin and he lightened up a little bit. I tried squirming out of his grasp, but he still had a strong grip on my hands.

"Yeah right Max, not going to happen." He said.

He flipped me back onto my back and put his hands back on my shoulders. Something told me we weren't doing the challenge anymore.

Suddenly there was this loud beep. What the heck? Well that was kind of annoying. Fang looked at me strangely and rolled his eyes.

"Gazzy." He muttered.

He yanked me under the coffee table and covered my head with his hands. The loud noise made my ears pop. And I saw part of a flash of light through Fang's fingers. Gazzy had set up a bomb in a hotel? Oh, my gosh, he was so dead. No I was burning him alive. Well, maybe not that severe, but he was definitely getting my version of grounding. And in case you're wondering, yes, he will get dessert taken away, for a very,_ very long_ time. Fang looked at me, taking his hands away from my head.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Yeah." I replied. "I'm still hungry though."

Fang just shook his head and chuckled. I got up and stuck out my hand to help Fang up. To my surprise, he actually took it.

Now I was off on my mission. To find hospital food. Yum


	5. Chapter 5

Nudge POV 

I admit it, I had a crush on Iggy. I don't know why, I just did and it was really annoying at times. Especially when Angel got into my head for endless hours at night and tried to convince you that you should tell him that you like him.

But even though I hated that I liked him, it still hurt when he was making googly eyes at Ella all the time. And when he was holding her hand at the hospital, it reminded me of all the movies. They would always admit their love for each other as soon as the patient woke up.

"You're so pathetic." I muttered to myself.

"You're not that bad." Someone said behind me.

I jumped slightly, getting ready to fight whoever it was. I totally lost balance when I saw it was Iggy. The top of the building that I was standing on felt a little wobbly. Iggy reached out to grab me and pull me up right.

"Thanks." I muttered, blood rushing to my cheeks.

"No problem." He said, letting go.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Angel told me, um well, everything." He admitted. "I just wanted to talk to you."

"About…?" I asked.

"Why didn't you just tell me that you had a, uh, crush on me?" He questioned.

"First of all, I thought you would laugh at me. Second, it's really hard to just tell someone tht. And third, you and Ella have a little something." I explained.

He looked straight at me. I still don't know how he did that, looked straight at you when he was talking, or slapped high fives perfectly. I took a step back at me.

"The first thing, I might have laughed at that a couple years ago, yeah. And there's nothing going on between Ella and I."He said, lying straight through his teeth.

"Liar." I accused. "You always turn red every time we come and visit and it's your turn to hug her."

He rolled his sightless eyes. He got that irritated look, like when I talked way too much. But this was different, I didn't know what though. It was like he was annoyed with me, not with my talking like he usually was.

"Okay, so what? You still should've told me. We always tell each other everything." He argued.

"Since when?" I challenged.

"Since Angel got kidnapped." He was right.

I had told him everything that night after they blew up the house up in the Rockies, not so far from here. Well, not absolutely everything like that I had wanted an iPod for Christmas. But I had told him everything that was going through my head at that time. Like I was afraid that Angel might already be dead and that I didn't want to die.

Now, it wasn't my death that I was afraid of, it was any one of the flocks death. Like the two times that Fang had gotten his butt whipped by Ari. Those experiences were horrible. And the day that Angel got kidnapped was probably the worst day of my life…so far. Oh yeah, there was those times when Max just fell out of the sky screaming bloody murder. I knew it was bad when one of our flock members screamed. But Max? That never happened, so you knew that it had to be gut wrenching.

"So what do you want me to say, Iggy?" I asked. I couldn't think of anything else to say.

"I don't know." He admitted. "Let's just get it over with, I mean when else are we going to be able to have this conversation without Angel reading our minds?" He added.

"You start." I demanded.

"Right," he started. "Well, what I like about you is that you always have a positive look out on things." He scratched his neck, thinking of more things to say. "You always make people feel better and you're awesome at hacking into computers."

"And what don't you like about me?" I asked.

He hesitated for a minute before answering. "You just got to talk a little less." He said, trying to not be offensive.

"Do I really talk that much?" I asked

"Uh, yeah." He admitted.

"Oh." I said.

"At least you do Fang's talking for him, that's got to count for something." He said trying to cheer me up. Yeah, Fang wasn't much of a talker, especially when it came to emotional things. Max and him just communicated by glances and hand signals and things like that.

"Yup." I said. "Now it's my turn."

"Okay, knock yourself out." He encouraged, or tried at least.

"Your bombs save us a lot. And you're always the sarcastic one, and can make a joke out of pretty much any situation. Oh, and your cooking is pretty good."

"Thanks." He muttered.'

"So…?"

"I swear, I had absolutely no idea that you liked me. If I would've known, I wouldn't have liked Ella."

"What difference does it make if I like you or not?" I challenged turning my back to him.

"Well it's a big difference. I didn't really have a crush on you, but I still have a few feelings for you that are different than those I have for Angel and Max." He explained, turning me around.

"We should get going back." I suggested, my cheeks really hot at the moment. "Max will kill us if we're not back soon enough."

"Uh-oh." He said.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"There might be a problem with getting back." He said. "It's snowing."

That was just an understatement. It was pounding snow, if that's even possible. I hadn't noticed it until Iggy told me. I was just too distracted.

I groaned. I had absolutely no idea how to get back. I had just went to a random building, and it had to be at least ten miles away.

"I think Max would want us to find shelter." Iggy said.

What about Ella? I thought to myself. Max needed us right now and I didn't want to be away if Ella didn't have that much time left. And Iggy didn't deserve to miss Ella's last moments.

"Let's go find some shelter," suggested Iggy.


	6. Chapter 6

I could tell that my mom hadn't agreed with my decision right after I told her, but she never said anything about it. We just sat in silence in the waiting room since Ella's room had been bombed. It was maybe about an hour before a doctor came out, a discouraging look on his face. I stood up and motioned him over to the other side of the room.

"The news isn't good is it?" I asked him, whispering.

He shook his head avoiding my eyes. "She's gone, I'm sorry." He had absolutely no emotion in his voice. He looked around 60 years old, he was probably used to telling people this.

He started to walk away.

"Wait." I said. "Tell me what happened."

He sighed and turned around to face me again. This time he had a bit of emotion in his eyes, but his voice was expressionless.

"We had to cut through a vain to get it out. And she lost so much blood that her brain was barely getting any that and so it completely stopped." He explained.

"But don't they have like something that can get her brain going again." I still had hope that she could be alive, yeah I know, stupid me.

"No, it's too late, I'm sorry." He said and started walking away again.

I just felt like I'd been run over by a semi truck, stabbed in the chest and choked. I've experienced things similar to these things. But somehow this was worse. And I know you're not supposed to choose favorites, but this felt even worse than when Ari died. I think it did because this time it was my fault. I swallowed hard. Telling mom wasn't going to be just a walk in the park. Her only all-human daughter had just died. I took a breath and walked over.

"Mom?" I asked.

"I heard the conversation, Max." She said.

"Oh." I said awkwardly. I have never been the best with these types of discussions.

"We need to get out of here okay mom?" I said.

"Of course." She said.

"I mean I know it's a really bad time and all. But there's someone here and they really dangerous for me. And Fang will bring me back to life and kill me again if I get killed." I said.

She winced at the mention of me getting killed. I knew what she felt like, kind of. I mean when Angel had been taken I had been crushed, not knowing whether or not she was dead. Angel's the closest thing I have to my own child, so it was a similar situation.

"I understand, Max." She reassured him. "Your safety is vital to the flock and lots of other people. That's the most important thing right now."

She was so calm. Like nothing happened. I just hoped that she wouldn't turn out like me, bottle everything up and then end up bawling in front of your family, even though you're supposed to be tough and take care of them.

I slipped my backpack on and took my cell phone out of my pocket. I had to call Fang. But I wasn't going to let him know about Ella. I'd would just say that we were leaving her at the hospital so that she could recover.

"Hey, Max." He said, his voice kind of concerned.

"Hey." I said.

"Did something happen?" He asked, knowing me all too well.

"No." I lied. "We're just going to leave Ella here to recover and mom and I are coming to the hotel. Just tell me where it is and we'll head over there, okay?"

"Okay." He said, not sounding at all convinced. "It's on 934 16th Street."

I mentally put that into my head. "Alright, we'll be there in a few." I said.

"Max" his voice had a warning tone in it. So I decided to act like I hadn't heard it.

"Well bye." I said and hung up before he could say anything else.

"When are you going to tell the flock about Ella?" Mom asked.

I shrugged. "Whenever the time is right. When the whole flock is there, because Nudge and Iggy are somewhere unknown right now."

She sighed, obviously not agreeing with my decision again. Well, I can't make everyone happy all the time right?

"We should take a cab there." I told her.

"Alright then." She half agreed.

I let mom get a taxi because I had pretty much no idea how the system worked. It looked like she had it pretty well sorted, which was pretty handy at the moment. Fang had chosen a pretty fancy hotel. It had a pool, arcade a couple different restaurants and a gift shop. Well, at least the younger kids would like this one.

"Here we are, Max." Mom said nudging me with her elbow.

"Okay." I said, sliding out of the car.

I could make out Fang and Angel's face inside the hotel looking out, waiting for me.

_Sorry about Ella, Max._ It was Angel. I would usually be annoyed that she was reading my mind, but I didn't really care about that right now.

I know, sweetie. Just don't tell any of the flock yet. I want to tell everyone together.

I saw her give me a slight nod through the window. But she took Fang's hand and started pulling him to the slider doors. Well, it was no use trying to keep it from Fang, since he kind of already knew.

"Hi." I said awkwardly to fang once we reached the doors.

He didn't say anything back though, just nodded to let me know that he'd heard me. I decided to just ignore that.

"I want to go to sleep" mom said "I'm exuasted."

"We both are." I muttered.

"Fang, go show them where our rooms are and I'm going to go see what Gazzy's doing okay?" Angel said.

He had that look of protest on his face that I regonized easily. But he nodded and motioned for us to follow him.

"I figured that you and Max could share a room since Ella's…not here right now." He said.

The room that mom and I were sharing was room 308. Fang handed me the room key and I opened it, letting mom go in first. I started to walk in but nothing in my life is ever that easy. Fang grabbed me by my hair and yanked me back.

"Ow!" I said. "What was that for?" I asked.

"That was for lying to me." He explained. "She's gone isn't she?"

The heavy door closed. He looked at me, but I only glanced at him. He was still mad at me, for lying to him. But that was only part of it, he was mad at me for making him go. Part of me told me he wanted to be there for me when I found out about Ella.

"Max?" His voice still had steel in it, but it was softening up a little bit. "I'm sorry."

He put his hand on my shoulder but I brushed it off.

"Just leave me alone right now, okay?" I slid the key into the key slot and he let me go. But his face told me that it was one of the hardest things he'd done for a long time.

I ended up collapsing on one of the beds and a few seconds later I was out like a light.


	7. Chapter 7

Nudge POV

Iggy and I had found a coffee shop below. I wasn't sure what is was called because the snow was too thick to be able to read the sign. I recognized someone as soon as I came in. Usually that wasn't a good sign. But this person didn't have a bad feeling to her. In fact I think even Max had liked her once. Wait, was her name JJ from Virginia? What the heck was she doing here, working in a coffee shop in like a thousand miles away from Virginia? Well it beat me, I had no idea.

"JJ?" I asked, making my way to the front counter.

"Oh, hey… Max's little sis?" She said, vaguely remembering me.

"Yup, that's me." I said.

"Oh yeah, Max used to always talk about how you'd never shut up, it's Nudge right?"

"Uh huh." I said. Max used to talk about how I never shut up? Well, true enough.

"And Jeff!" She said. Her eyes brightened when she saw Iggy standing behind me, his hand on my hood, to keep track of where I was. I felt a bit envious, especially since they were closer in age than Iggy and I. "I'm glad to see that you're back with your family. Max was so worried about you that she was almost crying, and you'd know that Max like never cries."

Iggy gave a slight chuckle. "Max almost cried?" He asked.

"Oh yeah, she really missed you." I said. I was just getting revenge for her saying that I never shut up.

"Do you guys want some coco or something, I can make some for you guys for free." She offered.

"No, we're-

Iggy clamped his hand down on my mouth. I inwardly groaned. Would he ever stop doing that? The answer was most likely no.

"That would be great actually." Iggy told her. I was totally fine with it. But it might cost her money to give us the coco for free, that's the only reason I was against it though.

"Okay, you guys just take a seat at one of our tables." She said. "And I'll have it ready in five or ten minutes, alright?"

I nodded and walked over to a two person booth, still aware that Iggy had a hold of my hood. He slid in to the other side, figuring out what his surroundings was within like two seconds.

"So…" he said, trying to think of something to say. "Is this like our first date?"

"Well," I said. "I don't know. Are you always going to flirt with other girls on dates?" I asked.

"Excuse me?" He said, even though I knew he'd heard me clearly.

"You know exactly what I said." I snapped.

"Okay, okay, sorry. I'm just used to doing that." He told me.

"Tell me something that I don't know." I muttered.

He groaned. "Well, we both need to work on things." He admitted.

Guess what he meant for me? I need to learn how to shut up, yeah, yeah I know.

"Sounds like you guys are at the awkward stage." JJ said.

Iggy turned tomato red. "Yeah something like that." He replied.

"What about Fang and Max?" She asked.

"What about them?" I asked.

"Did they finally start dating? I saw Fang glaring at Sam the day after his and Max's date. Well, at least I think he was glaring at Sam, you can never really tell what Fang's facial expression is. But I guess you guys have him a lot more figured out since you've known him your whole life." He said.

"Ha." I said. "Well first of all, Max will probably never admit her feelings to Fang and Fang's not going to do it again. Second, it took me three years to figure out what his look was when he was dangerously annoyed." I explained.

"Oh." She said. "So they definitely have feelings for each other?"

"That's kind of obvious, I mean they can have a whole conversation without even speaking. Just hand gestures and looks." I explained.

"They just won't freaking admit it though." Added Iggy.

"Don't you just love teenage relationships?" She asked sarcastically.

"Oh, yeah, they're the best." I retorted.

"except you're not a teenager yet." Iggy commented.

"Shut up!" I snapped.

"Yup, I see you guys are really working out well." She joked.

"Uh huh." I said.

"Here you go guys." She said setting the mugs on the table. "And don't worry about paying. I just got some Swiss hot chocolate. And a packet only costs about like 25 cents."

I picked it up with both my hands and sipped at it. I held back a yelp, realizing how hot it was as soon as it touched my tongue. Iggy nudged me with his leg under the table. He was giving me a questioning look, trying to figure out whether or not I was okay. I kicked him back, maybe a little bit too hard. I felt bad because I really hadn't meant to.

He nodded as if to say _message received. _ Oops I thought to myself.

"So what are you guys doing here?" She asked.

"Um… we're on a family vacation. Our parents got back from the missionary trip thingy." Okay, so the missionary story was bull, but we were technically on a family vacation. We had been for the past what? Six Seven months?

"Oh, how'd you guys get here?" She asked waving around at the coffee shop.

"We went for a walk and then we got lost then it started snowing." I said, Iggy nodded.

I felt something vibrating in my pocket, my phone. Oh, my gosh. I could've totally used it all along and I'd totally forgotten about it.

I looked at the caller ID. It was Fang? Since when did he call me.

"Hello?"

"Nudge, you and Iggy hurry up and get over here. The hotel's on 934 16th Street." It was Fang, actually speaking in full sentences.

"Why?" I asked. "Did something happen?"

"I'm not 100% sure, but I think Ella's dead." He said, his voice flat on the other line.

"But she was fine a few hours ago, no, that can't be true." I protested.

I hung up, not wanting to hear anymore. I was sick of people in my life dying all the time. Now, Max's sister was dead.

"What's wrong?" Iggy asked.

"Um, Ella's…d-

He shook his head. He knew what I was going to say. He was kind of in a trance now.

As quietly as I could, I slid out of the booth and walked over to the hallway where the bathrooms were. Instead of going into the bathroom I just leaned against the wall and slid down until I was sitting, my hands covering my face.

No, this just couldn't be true.


	8. Chapter 8

Fang hadn't looked mad, he'd looked pissed, furious, enraged and probably about ready to choke me. But he didn't, and that's what surprised me. He had let it go without much of a fight. He didn't do that like ever.

"Max?" Mom said, trying to shake me awake.

"What?" I murmured.

"Angel's crying, I'm going to go see if she's okay." Mom told me.

I sat up as soon as she informed me of that me that. But I saw the outline of her head shaking. What?

"Go back to sleep, I'm going to go and check on her, okay?"

I just nodded and laid back down and pulled the sheets over my head. I didn't pay attention to the door until the second time it squeaked opened. That was quick.

"Hey, Max." It was probably one of the shortest sentences I'd ever heard Nudge utter.

"Oh, you two are safe, I was starting to get a little worried about you two." I told her.

"I'm old enough to take care of myself for a few hours." She snapped.

"I know, it wasn't you that I was really worried about." I told her.

"Oh."

"Where'd you guys go?" I asked.

"To a coffee shop." She answered simply. Hmmm, she wasn't talking enough, what was up.

"Cool." I said.

"JJ was working there." She told me. "How come she knew Fang's real name?"

"I slipped so many times that she figured out that Nick was just a nickname." I admitted.

"Oh, right, just wondering."

"How is she?" I asked.

She thought about it for about a couple seconds. "Well, she seemed pretty good. She was glad to see that Iggy was okay."

Oh yeah, because the last time that I'd seen her Iggy had been 'missing' or at his parents house.

"Why don't you go back to sleep?" She said. "I'm just going to say good night to everyone else."

Again I pulled the sheets over my head. I wished that I could stay this way forever. Just comfy and not have to be in a different place every night. But that might not be happening for awhile. I guess I'd just have to deal with it. Well, I've done a pretty good job so far, haven't I?

This was the first time in a really long time that I went to sleep really easily. But that didn't mean it was going to be a peaceful sleep too, my life just didn't work that way.

I was reliving every bad memory I had ever had in my lifetime. Most of it was within the last few months. First there was when Iggy had come back from eye surgery, and instead of his eyes being better, they were almost useless. He freaked out. I'd freaked out.

Next was when Angel had been taken, when I thought she might've been dead. The heartbreak and anger and hopelessness. It felt like I was reliving it. Except in my dream it was much worse, I found Angel dead, instead of alive.

Someone was violently shaking me and I didn't know who it was. I kicked whoever it was and whoever it was let out a small 'oof'. Then they were starting to hold me down. There was no way that it was going to happen, there was no way they were going to kidnap me. I opened my eyes, it was pitch dark. I couldn't see whoever it was, not even the outline of them.

"Let me go, or you're going to get your butt kicked." I warned.

That didn't help out though, it just made it worse. The grip on me tightened, making me struggle harder. But then I did something totally not me. I stopped fighting. My plan was to stop fighting which might make them loosen their grip. It was a good idea at first but it didn't work.

I finally started hearing. But it was a little different from what I'd expected.

"Fang!" It was Nudge I realized. "What's wrong with Max?"

"I don't know, she's going crazy."

He was going to pay for that later, now I just needed to get those horrible memories out of my head. I really wanted to tell Nudge that I was okay. But that would be a straight, flat out lie. And we all know that I'm very big on telling the truth right? Yeah, that's not going to happen anytime soon

"Nudge, get out of here." Fang's voice was low and had a steel edge to it. Usually Nudge shut up and did what he told her. But this wasn't the case this time.

"No." She objected. "Something's wrong with Max and I want to help."

"Hey, what's going on?" It was Iggy, he was obviously tired and ticked because the noise had woken him up. Well too bad for him.

"Get Nudge out of here." Fang shouted. "She can't see Max like this."

"See Max like what?" He asked, since he couldn't see anything.

Okay, so I could hear what was going on, but I was still having the nightmares. How's this possible you ask? Well, go online and search it because I have absolutely no idea how.

Back to me, my next memory, or living nightmare as I liked to call it, was my brain attack. It was every bit as painful as my ones in New York had been. Oh crap.

My hands raced up to my head and held my skull together. Unfortunately there wasn't a cliff nearby and even if there was, Fang would no doubt keep me from jumping off.

"oh, my gosh." I heard Nudge say "Max!" She was screaming now.

I could hear her protesting as Iggy was dragging her away. It was probably for the best anyways. The next thing I knew, I was running? What the heck? I was still having my brain attack, so how could I be running? I wasn't telling myself to run, something else was.

"Max!" It was Fang. "Don't do it Max. don't jump out that window."

I suppressed a shriek as soon as I saw little tiny cars about 100 feet down. Nothing was going to stop me now, not even Fang. I had no idea what was happening though. I jumped out. Part of my mind was getting ready for me to snap out my wings. But my other part, the one that was going crazy and was apparently more powerful made my wings stay closed. I screamed, coming back to reality. Oh crap, this was the end, I just knew it. And I had just made myself jump out the window. How could I have done this to myself? I fought to get my wings unfolded. But they wouldn't freaking budge.

I could hear Fang take off from the window and swooping down. See? I told you he would let me fall. I'm sure he wanted to make me fall at times, but he would never let me, if he could help it. He grabbed me by my shoulders and flew me back up. I did not want to face Fang when we got back inside… He set me down on the floor as soon as he flew us through the window. It was more like he dropped me though.

"What the heck were you thinking Max!?" He shouted.

Honestly? I didn't know. But Fang yelling, hearing and seeing him this upset and mad at me somehow snapped me back to reality, made me go back to myself.

He shoved me, hard. I crashed into a dresser behind me and knocked over a lamp. There was no way I was going to let him push me around. So I shoved him back, as hard as I could. But I was still not it the best shape after my brain attack, so it wasn't as forceful as I'd hope it to be. I did manage to make him stumble backwards a step, which was better than nothing I guess.

"Tell me." He demanded before shoving me back again. Making me crash even harder this time. The dresser got knocked over and I landed on the floor.

"Fang, stop." I said. "I don't want to fight, we can't fight."

He let out a sigh. I looked up at him, he was a giant from the floor. He nodded. Fang held his hand out to help me up. I took it, surprising myself, and even Fang himself seemed a little shocked.

"But what happened there, Max?" He asked.

I glared at him while thinking of an excuse. I decided that the others and mom didn't have to hear about this, but I could tell him. He already knew that I wasn't as tough as I acted sometimes. I could trust him to just nod and go along with it. So I decided to tell him somewhat of what was going on. Because not even I knew exactly had just happened.

"I, uh, don't really know." Yup that's what the best I, Maximum Ride could come up with.

"You don't know Max, really?" He didn't seem to be buying it. The thing was I wasn't selling it either.

"Fang, I have no idea what happened to me. It was like someone took over my brain or something like that" I attempted to explain.

"It's happened to you before." He said, still not believing it.

"I know, but this time it was different, not only did it take over my mind but it could control it and my body. I just don't know. All I know is that you need to keep an eye on me just in case I do something that might endanger me, you, mom or the rest of the flock"

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Well, remember at Anne's? When I asked you to…take care of me if I ever turned into something bad?" I asked

"Yeah." He answered I know, the white coats had deprived him of speech lessons when he was in the speech developing stage, maybe I'd make an appointment for him as soon as this was done. If this was ever done.

"Well, what if I turned into something bad now? You promised that you would…eh, take care of it." It was the only way that I could think of to explain it.

"Yup." He said and waited a few moments before continuing. "Nothing's going to happen Max. You're too strong to let anything happen, in the end."

I flopped down on the bed face forward. I heard Fang sigh and sit down next to me.

"But we don't know that. Like what just happened now. If you hadn't been have there, I would've gone splat." I argued.

I felt a slight movement, I wasn't sure, but I think it was him wincing.

"We'll work this out, Max, I swear." He promised.

He briskly rubbed my back. Good, it was taking a lot of stress out of me. No one else could take stress out of me like Fang. But then again, no one could give me as much stress as him.

The last thing I heard before going back to sleep was Fang's voice reassuring me.

"We'll figure this out, just go to sleep now."


	9. Chapter 9

When I opened my eyes that morning, Fang was sitting on the floor, leaning against the bed. I could tell he was asleep because his breathing was just slightly slower than normal. A lot of times he would pretend to be asleep so he could take watch just as soon as I started to even act the tiniest bit tired. I guess Iggy was on watch right now. Well, at least I hoped he was. I crawled out of bed as quietly as I could, I was going to see how Angel and mom were doing.

I caught a glimpse of Iggy and Nudge on the deck, talking away. Well, Nudge was doing the talking. But at least they were doing better than me. I would hate to have anyone have to go through what I'd gone through last night.

Mom was sleeping, her arm wrapped around Angel. The first time that they had met, Angel had thought of mom, like her mom. She was, in a way. She bought stuff, checked up on us, let her stay with us, and put up with us. Oh and the most important part. Unlike Anne, she didn't attempt to kill us. I felt sorry that non of the other flock members knew who their parents were. Except for Iggy, but that had just been a plain rip off. Angel opened her eyes, looked straight at me and then squeezed her eyes shut again. Yeah, nice try, Angel. Then I noticed something. She had been crying, her eyes were red, her breathing was heavy and her tiny jaw was clenched from trying not to cry.

"Sweetie, what's wrong?" I asked, pulling her away from my moms arms.

"Everyone outside the flock that we ever love always turn out to be with them or they die, like Ari and now Ella." She explained.

Sometimes Angel could be so smart. First Jeb abandoned us, then Anne turned out to be a liar, and I was never sure about Sam being an eraser and all. Ari had died and he loved me, but only because I was his half sister. Ella and mom had loved me from the start, before they even knew that I was related to them. And now Ella was gone. The only one left was mom. I really, really hoped that she wasn't a traitor. I mentally hit myself for thinking that. I mean come on, mom a traitor? There was no way that could happen.

"Is she next?" Angel asked interrupting my thoughts.

I shook my head. "No, mom's not going to die anytime soon, and she would never betray any of us." I reassured her.

She nodded, but she looked like she was about going to cry again and I didn't want to wake up mom. I decided to take her into the third bedroom, which no one was in, since Gazzy was sleeping on the bed next to this one. I picked her up and her legs wrapped around my waist tightly like she might fall if she didn't.

_Don't worry, baby, I got you. _

I carried her into the next room. It was dark and silent, until I turned the lights on. I looked at Angel again. She looked like she wanted to say something.

"You can tell me anything, you know that right?" I asked her.

"But you have enough to worry about. And I don't want to give you more problems."

"You're never going to be a problem." I said.

"You don't always tell everybody everything though." She pointed out. "You didn't want to tell us that Ella's…gone."

"Because it's my job to take care of thing. I'm the leader, I take care of you guys, you don't take care of me, okay?"

"But that doesn't mean that you can't tell us your problems. We're a family, that's what families do for each other. And I know that there's thing that you will never admit to us, only to Fang. But that's because you two belong together. You're soul mates."

Where the heck did she get these thing? Soul mates was probably from Nudge, but me and Fang? Well… But we were just friends really, really good friends. The best friends anyone could ever have. And so what if we were a guy and a girl? Can't a guy and a girl be just friends? Oh no. It wasn't possible for Fang and I. It was right in front of me, and I was just being outright blind to it.

"Angel, we're fourteen, we can't be soul mates. I don't even know if there's such a thing as soul mates." I said. "Well, there isn't really, is there?

"Maybe not." She agreed, I mean who can't agree with me right? "But you guys are so cute together."

'Cute'? We were never even officially together, if we were ever together at all. And I was pretty sure that we never were. At least we were on a different subject now, even if it was humiliating me. It was worth it for Angel.

_Fang's here for you. _

_I know, he's always been there for me, you don't have to tell me that._

_No, he's literally here for you, behind you, in the door way._

_Oh, I guess I was just having another blonde moment._

_But you never have blonde moments._

_True, but I need an excuse right now and that's the best one I can come up with._

I looked over my shoulder and saw Fangs tall dark figure blocking out a lot of the light. My heart almost stopped, I scolded myself for that. Had he heard the whole conversation? Crap, this might be the absolute worst day of my life. And that's saying something since I lived in a cage for over half my life and I've almost been killed countless times. Technically though, it would be the worst two days in a row since today was actually really late yesterday. I turned so I was facing the doorway.

"Angel," Fangs voice had a hint of victory in it. "Maybe you should let Max and I have a talk, alone."

Angel smiled mischievously. Were these two working together? If they were, I would kick their butts. Well, maybe Fangs, but not Angels, six year olds are just naturally trouble makers, so I might just let her go on this one. But if the leader of the free world made a law that every six year old has to have a stuffed bear if they wanted one, then we'd have a little talk. But even this wasn't as bad as that.

I looked back at Fang who was staring intently at me. I really wanted to punch something. Having a conversation with Jeb sounded better than this conversation with Fang I was about to have. This time I probably wasn't going to be able to escape because Fang knew that I would try. He would make sure that I wouldn't. Crap.

"Okay," she agreed, giving him a wink. What was happening to my little baby.

I looked around the room, trying to find a way out, an easy way to escape. Fang gave me a look like he knew what I was doing. Dang it, I forgot he knew my every move, look and practically every thought. This wasn't exactly the most helpful thing at the moment.

"We need to talk." He said after Angel shut the door behind her. His voice was so quiet that I could barely hear him, even with my special super sonic hearing.

Even though I knew it was pretty much impossible to escape, I made a break for it.


	10. Chapter 10

I was about to crash through the window when Fang tackled me to the ground. He looked down at me and cracked a smile.

"You really don't want to have this conversation, do you?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

Before I could say anything, his hand clamped down over my mouth. Then he grabbed my arm, pulled me up and dragged me over to a coat closet. Fang let go of my mouth and opened the door and gently shoved me in. I looked up at him, giving him a questioning look. He pushed me back a little farther so he could shut the door.

"I want to have this conversation as much as you do." He told me.

"Well, you seem pretty persistent about having it." I muttered.

"Yeah, because we're going to have to have it one time or another, or else its going to drive both of us crazy." He explained. "I'm the one that's brave enough to force myself and you to have it."

I was silent for a moment. Fang didn't have anything to say either, but something came into my head.

"But Fang, what if it doesn't work out?" I asked. "We can't split up again, just think about what that might do to the flock."

He shook his head a sighed.

"Max, looked at me." He said. His voice sounded so different than normal. It sounded like after I tried to cut my chip out and he told me to never do it again. Or after we reunited after the fight against the institution in Germany, when he said he would never leave us again.

Of course I didn't look at him though. I was way to humiliated to even move, afraid a might trip or something. Although, there was no room to trip. So he cupped his hand under my chin and forced me to look up. He stared into my eyes for a few moments and continued while he spoke.

"Max, I promise…no I swear, I will never leave you, even if this… thing doesn't work out."

I nodded, I mean I had to believe him. He was my best friend, the one I trusted most out of anyone in the whole world, the one who'd risked his life multiple times for mine. Only an idiot wouldn't believe him.

Against my own will, I hugged him. I could practically feel him freeze up. It didn't take him that long to warm up and hug me back.

"Do you miss Ella?" He asked, taking me totally out of surprise.

I pulled back, he still had a grip on my shoulder. I nodded.

"But I'm going to make sure this time that nothing happens to my mom." I told him.

He didn't say anything just looked at me, letting me know that he agreed with me.

"So…" He said. "…Are we going to try it?"

"What if it doesn't work out?" I asked.

"How will we know if we never try?" God, I hated it when he was right, which is, well, a lot.

"Okay…" I agreed reluctantly. "But we have to take it _really really_ slowly."

He chuckled like only Fang can chuckle. "I've waited since we were thirteen, I think I'm glad to actually be,uh, going out? With you. Somewhat."

I wasn't exactly sure what the term was either. But I knew that it was a little more than friends. We weren't exactly engaged either.

"Since we were thirteen?" I asked. "I thought we told each other everything."

"I thought we already knew everything about each other just by looking."

"True enough." I agreed

There was a knock on the door, interrupting our oh so wonderful conversation. Whoever it was didn't wait for one us to open the door, they just opened it on their own. Honestly, I grateful for that. At least that's what I thought until…

"OH MY GOSH!" If you guessed Nudge, then you guessed right. "It's finally happening, they finally got together."

"Huh?" It was Iggy who I hadn't noticed, he was hanging onto her hoodie. "What's going on? What about Max and Fang?"

"They're in a closet together." She explained. "A really _small _closet" she added, much to my humiliation.

"We were just talking." I defended

"Uh huh," She said not sounding entirely convinced. "Talking about what?"

"Ella." I said, it wasn't a complete lie.

"Oh." Her voice sounded flat now, very rare for my Nudge. That's when I knew she knew.

"Hello, everyone." It was Angel.

Hi, sweetie, watcha need?" I asked.

"I just needed to tell you that I set reservations for you at a restaurant." She informed us. "That way you and Fang can have your first official date."

I fought a blush that was starting to creep up on me. Today was going tobe one of the most interesting days of my life.

"Okay," I said, "tell me the time and place."

I saw Fang give me a look of complete horror/astonishment.


End file.
